Microsoft Uses the Web to Showcase New Windows 'Metro'

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Microsoft Uses the Web to Showcase New Windows 'Metro'

Windows Phone on an iPhone

As part of its effort to win over iOS and Android fans, Microsoft has created a very slick web-based demo of its new Windows Phone operating system.

Designed to run in your iPhone or Android web browser, the site effectively replicates the company's new "Metro" user interface in HTML. The demo is a clever effort to show people what the Metro UI looks like without the need to set foot in a store.

If you're curious, head over to the demo site. (Note that the site primarily works with mobile devices, though it will load in the desktop version of Chrome as well.)

A number of news outlets have called the site an "HTML5 demo," which is technically true, though aside from the doctype the site doesn't use many of the new features found in HTML5. Mainly what you'll find under the hood is some JavaScript hooking into various WebKit CSS animation features (since the target audience is iOS and Android browsers, limiting the demo to WebKit browsers seems like a fair decision).

HTML5 hype aside, the site makes a nice demo Windows Phone and an impressive use of web tools to recreate a native OS interface.